Thank you guys all for reading until this far.
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Ash had unexpectedly met the Ice-type Elite 4 member from the Hoenn Region in Mauville City, and their battle had also ended in a decisive draw.
Not only that, May also met Watt by chance at the Mauville City Food Court, who was Wattsons assistant at the Mauville City Gym.
She also and a practice match with her Skitty and Watts Ampharos, and she had surpassed won. She has really improved a lot now from where she was, even managing to beat a fully evolved powerful Pokémon like Ampharos with a Skitty.
Skitty's Assist move was indeed a much more improved version that Ash saw before, and this also proves the high compatibility between May and her new Skitty.
She also learned from Watt that Verdanturf Town, which was not that far away from Mauville City, was about to host a Pokémon Contest of their own.
After checking their map, they did find that Verdanturf Town was on one the closer route they had to take back to go to Petalburg City, so the obvious next destination for the group was Verdanturf Town.
Now Ash and May both have one official ribbon in their collection, but Ash still wasn't worried that either he or May will miss the Grand Festival at the end of their Hoenn Journey.
On the way to Verdanturf Town, the group also passed through a place called Foothill Town. There, May met a senior coordinator who uses a Delcatty, Abby.
Abby was one of the very few Pokémon Coordinators who had won the Grand Festival championship and thus also had the title of being a Top Coordinator, but she has now retired and opened a Pokémon Clinic in Foothill Town to enjoy a quite life, which can truly be regarded as finding a completely new path in life.
Delcatty was the evolved form of Skitty, so Abby and May hit their friendship off immediately, and she also provided some advice to May, almost a complete newbie, on how to be a better Pokémon Coordinator.
Mays Skitty also learned to use Double Slap from Abby's Delcatty while playing with a ball. She also told her experience on how to show off her Pokémon's unique skills in Pokémon Contest, this is something that all Pokémon Coordinators need to do if they want to better themselves and their Pokémon's.
Not only that, Skitty also learned how to use Blizzard, but she was not yet proficient in how to use it, and it doesn't work when she tries to move too much, so there was still much needed practice to have.
But in this way, May now had more confidence than ever in the next Verdanturf Town Pokémon Contest!
Just when they arrived at Verdanturf Town, the Pokémon Contest was still about a day away from them. But sure enough, there were already many Pokémon Coordinators gathered here to practice and do some final analysis.
For Ash on the other had, this was the perfect opportunity for him to earn more Exchange Points, which he really needed badly.
Entering the Pokémon Center, everyone saw the a very familiar figure. Sure enough, Drew had also arrived here, and he was asking Nurse Joy for something.
When they got closer to him, they saw that Drew's Roselia was covered in some deep bruises.
"Drew, you are here too!" May was full of fighting spirit, this time she must defeat Drew. "You also want to participate in tomorrow's Pokémon Contest, right?"
Drew returned to his now conceited look, "That's what I originally planing on doing to..." But his Roselia, who he had entrusted to Nurse Joy at the moment, cannot recover before for the match tomorrow or even the day after that.
"What happened to your Roselia? Why is she so injured?" May felt a little distressed when she looked at how injured the little flower was.
"We had a fight not long ago!" Drew could no longer maintain his conceited attitude, "I was cursed up in that battle!"
"There was Pokémon Coordinato with a mask, he calls himself The Phantom! May, you have to be more careful, but Ash, you mush definitely defeat him!" With that, he bowed lightly to Nurse Joy again and left the Pokémon Center to do whatever he had to do.
Although he has other Pokémon's in his team, he was no longer in the mood to participate in this Pokémon Contest.
He couldn't perform to his best with knowing how injured his Roselia was—and it was all his fault for being this weak.
From this perspective, Drew was still very immature, far from mature. But also shows just how much he loved his Pokémon's.
After completing their needed registration program, May hurried to an empty park near the Pokémon Center to practice. This time she decided to send Skitty on the field.
' That masked Pokémon Coordinator can even defeat even Drew to such an extent, so I have to be careful.' Although she knew that the masked Coordinator mush be very strong, May did not feel much intimidated by him at all. Instead, she gradually became more willing to fight. She had already made a lot of progress, especially knowing that her boyfriend got her back.
"By the way, Ash, who are you going to use in this Pokémon Contest?" Brock asked with concern as he watched May train her Skitty to get better with the ball.
"Togetic is is too playful and doesn't like to perform well in front of so many people, and she also really doesn't seem to be interested in this Kim foc things. Since there is such a powerful and mysterious new character this time, I have decided on going ohhh this girl." Ash threw out a new Poké Ball very casually, "Come out, Meganium."
Meganium, who had not seen her beloved Trainer for a long time now, in real life, saw Ash again and turned her head to ignore him. Ash could easily read what was written all over her face, "I'm very angry and can't be easily coaxed!"
"Wow, what a beautiful Pokémon!" May was immediately stunned. Ash's Meganium was one of the prettiest Pokémon's she had ever seen.
"And it also smells so good." Max was very moved to see the Meganium that so easily beat her opponents in the Silver Conference, "I already saw Meganium when it was still in the Johto Region. May, this is the same Meganium that instantly defeated her opponent in one move at the Silver Conference. She is very strong! You'll definitely lose this time!"
Ash hit him in the head for talking too much but was still very proud to see someone say how strong they were a
Ash also said proudly, "Of course she is beautiful, I take great care of her beauty, I, too, am proud of her!"
Even when she heard Ash praising her so much, Meganium just twitched the corner of her mouth, and then twisted her face away again.
Seeing its appearance, Asv immediately laughed, patted her neck gently and said with a smile, "Okay, is this about not being with me? Don't be angry, I will be with you these couple of days, okay?"
"Ral ra!"
Ralts teleported in front of her, waved her little hand towards it, and the two girls started chatting, ignoring Ash completely as if he wasn't there at all.
They already know each other, after all, Ash had temporarily teleported his Ralts to the Lab for some training a while back.
Besides going to his Growlithe to play around with, and getting yelled at by Houndoom for disturbing his peace, Ralts' biggest achievement was getting to know this beautiful sister, well in her eyes.
Suddenly, a strong wind blew in, mixed with fallen leaves and dust, and a figure appeared from the wind. He was wearing a black cloak, a black hat, and a Dusclops mask on his face.
"Let me ask you, are you going to participate in the Pokémon Contest as a Coordinator and Trainer?" he asked.
"A Pokémon Coordinator who wears a mask!" Max exclaimed in surprise, he now confirmed that this was the same Trainer that Drew was defeated by so easily.
And then he admitted it himself, "I want to fight against you. If I don't fight with someone that has some power, my life gets too boring to enjoy!"
Hearing this, Ash was also a little happy. His Meganium was still standing there next to him. Where did he even get the courage to say all this? Does be not know what true pain was?
Meganiuk was pretty much an insurmountable mountain to this guy.
"Alright then, I'll accept your challenge!" Ash will not refuse the invitation to battle so easily, especially when is blows into him like this guy.
Brock still served as the referee to this battle, and the time limit was 5 minutes. The battle method is the same as the they use in Pokémon Contests. The Pokémon that Ash will use is of course his powerful and bulky Meganium.
The masked man also threw out his Pokémon, "Go, Dusclops!"
It was indeed a Dusclops, and his outfit also had the same styling elements of this Dusclops. Ghost-type Pokémon's are seen as behe difficult to deal with, especially Pokémon's like Dusclops who have a plethora of different ways to do things.
"We have to face him again tomorrow, don't break him too much!" Ash warned his Meganium, "Petal Dance!"
Ash's Meganium's Petal Dance was completely different from what Drew and his Roselia can do.
Both much more beautiful and more unimaginably powerful, the sweet petals spread out and immediately enveloped Dusclops. Before it could use any moves or react to what was happening, it was instantly defeated by Ash and his Meganium.
The scene in front of him made the masked man feel too weak, but then he noticed a luxury car driving towards the park, and immediately took back his Dusclops, who had completely lost his ability to fight back, "The battle will continue next time, goodbye!"
As he spoke, another strong wind blew, and he ran away without leaving a trace, or did he.
The masked Phantom ran away immediately after he said his goodbye, and a large middle aged lady got out of the car and chased him in the direction of where he was escaped towards, or where the last wind blew towards.
Unfortunately, she couldn't catch up in time because of her weight, but did manage to pick up a pen, a pen that belonged to her son.
The lady was wearing all the famous brands and jewels one could think of and possibly more. Ash's eyes suddenly lit up when he saw the lady looking so sad while looking at the pen and where the Phantom ran away. This must be one of the mission a NPC gives the main character; meaning him. The reward for completing such a mission might be hefty, too good for him not to do.
It may be that the masked guy who calls himself the Phantom must have his own reasonings for covering up his face and running away so suddenly.
Sure enough, the lady turned around and asked the group, "Are you with that Masked Coordinator, a companion of the Phantom Coordinator?"
As she said this, the aunt was also seeming to talk to herself, and without asking any questions, she began to say responsibly and ridiculously, "What did you do to my lovely son? Come on, tell me everything you did clearly! It's all your fault!"
Just saying that wasn't enough fo their, she also reached out to grab towards where Ash was. Ash couldn't just let this random woman touch him, she wasn't even beautiful, and caught her arm before she could catch his collar. "Alright lady, please be patient, I was just having a battle with the Phantom," he said while his taller frame catching her off guard. "It was just a battle between two Pokémon Trainers, and we also don't even know each other, so you're being hostile for no reason."
"Oh, and I am Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town, also a certified Pokémon Investigator, how can I help you?" This eas a standard way to ask the special NPC for that mission.
Apparently this lady was called Mrs. Grimm. After listening to Ash's words and hearing that he was a real Pokémon Investigator, she finally calmed down, took out a handkerchief and wiped her tears and said.
"Recently, my lovely little son Timmy has started to skip classes and not even going to tutoring leasing, so I commissioned a detective to investigate in detail on why he was doing that. They then discovered that wherever Timmy went, that guy known as the Phantom also appeared.
"My child must have been deceived by that the Phantom guy and led to do bad things with him!"
Ash's mouth twitched when he heard this, it sounded just like a certikg friendly neighborhood hero.
If that really was the case as Ash imagined, the reason why the Phantom wears a mask is also a very very clear answer.
That Timmy kid was the Phantom, Ash could alsomt immediately confirm this after listening to the full mission description fork Mrs. Grimm. The only question now is why did Timmy put on a mask and become the masked Phantom?
And also why his mother never tried to talk to him about this?
They just heard this when Mrs. Grimm finally announce the mission to them, "You guys are all Pokémon Trainers, please. Please help me expose the true identity of the Phantom. Of course, I will definitely reward you guys for that!"
This is exactly what Ash had been waiting for so so long. Just look at this lady's bulging purse, she must be very rich, and she will definitely be able to give them a lot of things.
Even money, which they didn't lack, was a good thing here.
Ash of course readily accepted this new task.
Then he got ready and said, "Can you then come to watch the Pokémon Contest happening tomorrow at the DOME?"
"A Pokémon Contest?" The aunt was a little stunned, and then thought that the Masked Phantom would definitely participate in their town's Pokémon that will be happening tomorrow, so she nodded and agreed to it thinking this will help help her send the Phantom send away.
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This was how the Pokémon Contest in Verdanturf Town begins!
Ash took some time to beat up as many Pokémon Trainers and Pokémon Coordinators as possible, and finally collected the 3,000 Exchange Points he needed.
The Z-Crystal he wants to redeem this time was none other than the Rockium-Z. This was for his stronger Pokémon's in the Lab who had finally grown up to their current point and now can finally have this new extremely powerful move.
This final attack was non other than Continental Crush!
So far, Ash had successfully redeemed four Z-Crystals: Electrium Z, Dragonium Z, Waterium Z, and now Rockium Z.
His progress in collecting them can be said to be very fast.
"Ok, Timmy!" Ash, who was waiting in the waiting area along with his girlfriend, May, suddenly called out to the masked Phantom.
Sure enough, he showed a clear tremble across his whole body but he ultimately refused to admit that he was TIMMEH, "Timmy? I've never heard of that person!"
"Okay okay, as they say, tomato potato. Let's talk about why you escaped last time. You were still clearly there, watching us talk while hiding carefully. How about you go back?" Ash looked at the Phantom and smiled.
Hearing this, the Phantom, or Timmy, suddenly became angry after this, "So you're trying to stop me too!"
"My mother left me a lot of homework, enough that 8 people need to do simultaneously to finish, and I couldn't even leave the room until I finished it all! If my dad hadn't let me out, I would have missed this Pokémon Contest!" He admitted it. He admitted he was Timmy, he even took off his mask, revealing his childish and timid face.
When he puts on the mask, he was the famous and arrogant Phantom, but when he takes off the mask, he cannot resist his strong mother and escapes.
"I understand your pain, I'm just like you. So this will be your last time participating in a Pokémon Contest for a while. Cherish this!" Ash patted him on the shoulder. That's all he could do as an acquaintance. The rest depends on Timmy's own will.
Of he really was a Pokémon Trainer or a Pokémon Coordinator, he needs to have the courage to back up his goal.
Seeing Ash turn and leave, Timmy gritted his teeth, seemed to have made a conscious decision, and put on his mask again.
"Babe, when was tomato and potato the same thing?" May asked cutely, "and when did you knew that the Phantom was actually Timmy himself?"
"You don't need to think all of that, just concentrate hard on your upcoming performances." He finished his sentence with a kiss to her red lips.
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The first round of this Pokémon Contest went as smoothly as one would expect.
Jessie had already been blacklisted from Pokémon Contest due to her cheating in the last Pokémon Contet, so she simply changed her name to another one. Simple but somehow still effective. This time, she was genuinely trying her and did not try cheat at all, and finally got a very good score of 28.5.
She was really talented at such a thing, maybe just as good at she was at doing business.
However, Mays try wasn't the best. There was a few mistakes in May and Skitty's performances together, and her Blizzard failed to perform like they had practiced for, but in the end they still managed to use their Double Slap to finish the ball, which brought out Skitty's cuteness very well, and finally managed to get a score of 24.9.
25 points was the sure hit line, a safety line basically. If one does cross it, they will most likely be able enter the second round of the Contest; however, that may not be the case if there are many well trained Pokémon Coordinators in there. But compared to other Pokémon Coordinators who only hover around the 20 point line, this score was not that bad, and there was still some hope left for May.
Ash's Meganium level was simply too high, and her control of all of her moves were almost perfect and very exquisite, almost at their peak usability.
Ash just thought of a few combinations of moves on the spot and got the very high score of 29.8 points, almost a perfect score, and the whole audience was excited, especially Ash's biggest Pokémon Contest fan, that being Vivian.
Even Ash didn't realize how big of a fan she had became for him after his one Contest performance back when he was at Slateport City.
Finally, it was Timmy's or the Phantom and Dusclops turn to go. It can be seen that he really tried his best and performed very well, with a final score of 28 points.
So it was the four people Ash knew, including himself, who managed to enter the second round of this Contest.
After some random arrangement and combination, Ash had to face Jessie, and May will have to face the Phantom/Timmy who defeated Drew.
Drew did ultimately decide not to participate as he was at the Pokémon Center with his injured Roselia, watching and secretly supporting Ash and May from there.
"Boss? Why? What did I ever do wrong?" Jessie was more than stunned when she relaxed that her "Boss" was standing opposite to her.
Ash smiled and said, "Jessie, have a battle with me without having regret. Let out bond bloom, Meganium!"
"As soon as Ash's Meganium came on stage, the whole place has now filled with a delightful floral fragrance that can attract anyone. Wow, this is the perfect blend of intoxicating and refreshing!" Vivian closed her eyes and felt the floral fragrance wafting in the air, and felt refreshing.
She genuinely loved the first time Ash had performed with his little Ralts against Milotic and its Trainer, Robert.
Coupled with Meganium's beautiful posture and the entrance of delightful smell, and Jessie ahving just made her debut with her Dustox, Jessies points had already been deducted a small amount from them.
"What?" Jessie suddenly flailed to realize something very important, "We can't be afraid, come on, Dustox!"
"Dustox, use Poison Jab!" Jessie restrained her fear and admiration of Ash and took the lead in launching her attack.
However, without even needing Ash's orders, a colorful light curtain was set up in front of Meganium, making it difficult to take one's eyes away from it.
"Meagnium had just used her Safeguard without needing Ash's command, it's such a beautiful thing!" Vivian was already fascinated with this giant and beautiful Meganium, but now this had just boosted her fascination for it.
Dustoxs Poison Jab was blocked, and because this move was also very beautiful and countering, Jessie's score was greatly deducted, leaving a little more than half of it left.
"Damn it, Dustox, use Psybeam!" Jessie could no longer care about her stage performance and wanted to have a force win.
"Petal Dance!"
It seemed to Ash that Jessie had forgotten how many times she had to lost this Meganium with even stronger Pokémon's than her current ones. So Ash had to give her a reminder of this fact.
Meganium launched one of her strongest moves after hearing Ash's command, large amounts of flowers spread all over the stage, and Dustox completely lost his fighting ability without being able to do anything to stop it.
"Dustox lost his ability to fight and all his points were deducted. Coordinator Ash has defeated opponent Jessie with a crushing attitude. His Meganium really is a powerful and beautiful creature. I really can't find a way to discrive how awesome she really was!"
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